Tag: Skripsert

Posted in Pens, Stories

#ThrowbackThursday

Posted on by Danny Watts

Oops, I’m doing it yet again, welp I figured my Doodling post was lame-o, so I decided to supplement my weekly offering. Making amends for spelling and grammar issues may I present a BEAutiful 90-year-old pen with a most unusual nib on an Esterbrook V-Clip. Click the Ping Back to read the full story.

The Esterbrook V-Clip

Excerpt

“The pen is not assigned an official name; however, its popular name comes from the “V” styling of the large open clip. Esterbrook is considered a tier 2 manufacturer but they used stainless steel in the manufacture of their clips while their tier 1 competition still used electroplating. This pen was Esterbrook’s first attempt at a self-filling fountain pen in the U.S. Manufacturing of fountain pens started in 1932, the pens were available in hard rubber and in celluloid (plastic). The clip proved to be a major design disaster, as the flimsy metal often caused sprung clips, or worse, broken clips. Esterbrook designers quickly changed to the more common two-hole clip found on their “Dollar” pens. The V-Clip pen was only manufactured for a little more than a year. It is hard to find V-Clip pens and quite uncommon, even rare to find them in colors other than black.”

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COPYRIGHT © 2021-2023 DANNY WATTS and CHRONICLES OF A FOUTAIN PEN.
Posted in Pens, Stories

#ThrowbackThursday

Posted on by Danny Watts

Oops, I’m doing it yet again, welp I guess this is going to be a semi-regular featured post, but still only when I’m feeling uninspired (or lazy), then I will dig up and share an original post from yesteryear. In honor of consumerism, let’s flashback and look at the “extensive research” conducted by Sheaffer determined that there is a market for a pen designed exclusively for women. I wrote this in the spirt of 1958, yes it could be considered sexist, but I took inspiration from advertisements of the time. Making amends for spelling and grammar issues I present the Lady Sheaffer. Click the Ping Back to read the full story.

The Lady Sheaffer “writes like a dream…refills like her lipstick”

Excerpt

“Results show that women generally considered pens made for them were nothing more than scaled down reproductions of men’s writing instruments while their fashion interests were centered in fabrics, costume jewelry and accessories. The results was a new line of cartridge pens named ‘The Lady Sheaffer’ developed to include all these features. The Lady Sheaffer Skripsert fountain pen debuts in April 1958, offering 19 models with patterns inspired by fine fabrics, like tweed, corduroy, paisley and tulle.”

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COPYRIGHT © 2021-2023 DANNY WATTS and CHRONICLES OF A FOUTAIN PEN.
Posted in Pens, Restoration, Stories

The Lady Sheaffer “writes like a dream…refills like her lipstick”

Posted on by Danny Watts

The Back Story

“Extensive research” was conducted by Sheaffer to determine if there was a market for a pen designed exclusively for women.

Results show that women generally considered pens made for them to be nothing more than scaled down reproductions of men’s writing instruments while their fashion interests were centered in fabrics, costume jewelry and accessories. The results was a new line of cartridge pens named ‘The Lady Sheaffer’ developed to include all these features. The Lady Sheaffer Skripsert fountain pen debuts in April 1958, offering 19 models with patterns inspired by fine fabrics, like tweed, corduroy, paisley and tulle.

The Lady Sheaffer Skripsert VI is a periwinkle colored enamel over metal, with a gold basketweave that gives the pen a textured finish. The pattern was officially called “Paisley,” and fitted with a stainless steel Triumph wrap around nib. Unfortunately, the periwinkle enamel was prone to flaking off.

My Pen

Lady Sheaffer Skripsert VI

When I got my pen it was dirty and there was a big “stain” on the cap. I planned on cleaning it up but it got lost in the shuffle and my enthusiasm for it faded. After evaluating the direction my pen collection was headed I decide to sell off some pens and this one wasn’t making the grade, but it needed to be cleaned. I set about cleaning it and what a difference that made. The color became so vivid, I had a change of heart.

With the change of heart came a renewed interest in removing the “stain” on the pen cap. Assuming it was oil based, I washed the cap with Dawn dish soap which made the cap really shine but did not remove the stain. Next, I used the nylon circular brushes and the dental picks. This made some progress. Then I got the bright idea to let the cap soak over night in water. That morning I went over the stain again with the brush and removed the periwinkle enamel. F@&# me.

It gets better, I’m not done. Since the Dawn soap did such a great job on the cap I used it on the barrel. A metal object covered in soap can be slippery when wet. It didn’t drop far but it landed nib first. F@&#, F@&#, F@&#. The damage isn’t too bad, but the nib is a Triumph circular nib and well ya need a special tool to remove it. OMG I was ready to scream. Doing the best I could with a 1.3 mm dapping punch tool, I managed to remove the majority of the damage.

As this is a cartridge only pen, I dipped the nib in some ink and gave it a go. Damn it looks good and I am impressed with how well it writes. Definitely keeping this pen. The question is can I save it from myself?

COPYRIGHT © 2021-2023 DANNY WATTS and CHRONICLES OF A FOUTAIN PEN.